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Tip

Choosing the best tomatoes

The best British tomatoes for making soup are Elegance, a deep-red classic tomato (often sold on the vine) with a thin skin and sweet, juicy flesh. Aranca are good on-the-vine cocktail tomatoes with a superb flavour and aroma, but if you prefer the larger beefsteak variety, go for Jack Hawkins. Plum tomatoes to watch out for include Santa, Jester, Mona Lisa and Baby Sweetheart.

Method

Firstly, prepare your vegetables. You need 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes. If the tomatoes are on their vines, pull them off. The green stalky bits should come off at the same time, but if they don't, just pull or twist them off afterwards. Throw the vines and green bits away and wash the tomatoes. Now cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they don't soften during cooking and you'd get hard bits in the soup at the end). Peel 1 medium onion and 1 small carrot and chop them into small pieces. Chop 1 celery stick roughly the same size.

Spoon 2 tbsp olive oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat. Hold your hand over the pan until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion, carrot and celery and mix them together with a wooden spoon. Still with the heat low, cook the vegetables until they're soft and faintly coloured. This should take about 10 minutes and you should stir them two or three times so they cook evenly and don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Holding the tube over the pan, squirt in about 2 tsp of tomato purée, then stir it around so it turns the vegetables red. Shoot the tomatoes in off the chopping board, sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Tear 2 bay leaves into a few pieces and throw them into the pan. Stir to mix everything together, put the lid on the pan and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices flow nicely. From time to time, give the pan a good shake – this will keep everything well mixed.

Slowly pour in the 1.2 litres/ 2 pints of hot stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes), stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then turn the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.

Remove the pan from the heat, take the lid off and stand back for a few seconds or so while the steam escapes, then fish out the pieces of bay leaf and throw them away. Ladle the soup into your blender until it’s about three-quarters full, fit the lid on tightly and turn the machine on full. Blitz until the soup’s smooth (stop the machine and lift the lid to check after about 30 seconds), then pour the puréed soup into a large bowl. Repeat with the soup that’s left in the pan. (The soup may now be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost before reheating.)

Pour the puréed soup back into the pan and reheat it over a medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface. Taste a spoonful and add a pinch or two of salt if you think the soup needs it, plus more pepper and sugar if you like. If the colour’s not a deep enough red for you, plop in another teaspoon of tomato purée and stir until it dissolves. Ladle into bowls and serve. Or sieve and serve chilled with some cream swirled in. For other serving suggestions, see opposite.

Lol. I agree it could use some spaces but its pretty obvious. It is 1 to 1.25 kg OR 2 lb 4 oz to 2 lb 12 oz. They use kg in Britain (and most of the world) which is where this site originates. 1 kg is about 2.2 pounds.

I have made this recipe today and yes I have to agree with everyone else, it is delicious. I also used a hand blender in the saucepan I made the soup in however I din't like all the little tomato seeds that remained....I decided to strain ladle by ladle which took a long time and left behind a whole lot of pulp but the end result was worth it....an amazing intense smooth home made tomato soup. Thanks for the inspiration.

I've just used up all my home grown tomatoes making this - have just had a taste and it is delicious! I have to say, though, that the laborious detail in the instructions is really ridiculous - if there is anyone out there who is so dense that they need to have it explained to them how to take stalks off tomatoes, then there is very little chance they would be able to use the internet to find this recipe, and even less chance they'd be able to make the soup!

I have just read the recipe and I know that I will be making this. I actually appreciate the easy directions. I use an immersion blender, hand stick (I am a Brit living in the states, hoooomesick for England) - so I am not sure what you call the immersion blender back home, have been here a looong time. I do not like to pour hot soups into a plastic, bpa, or not, container, so blend in a pot with hand blender. Some much younger people and much older people will appreciate the detailed directions. I like to read easy directions when I have too much going on. I will use basil in this.

This sounds lovely, I've not made it yet. I have to say though I'm not sure who wrote this recipe, but it seems to be aimed at children with the way things are described in the method. Really ridiculous

Just made this soup out of all the home grown tomatoes I've been given. I used dry basil instead of bay leaf. I also de-seeded the tomatoes. I waited for the soup to cool down a lot before blending....I also used pasata instead of puree. I sieved the soup. Absolutely stunning..gorgeous. I will definitely make again..thanks

This is the tastiest, most wholesome tasting fresh tomato soup I have tasted. So easy to make and prepare and great for vegetarians and fussy kids :) It's far tastier made with the Swiss Bouillon stock powder than conventional veg stocks. Gives more bite to the taste :) I used a big batch of homegrown beef tomatoes going soft. Nothing like homegrown produce!

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